The leaders of the House and Senate both acknowledged Monday that their offices have received complaints of sexual harassment occurring at the State House, but neither man would go so far as to blame a unique culture on Beacon Hill for the recent stories of women being abused by men in power.

"It's not only a State House issue," House Speaker Robert DeLeo told reporters. "You're hearing stories in other states and nationally as well."

DeLeo on Friday introduced an order adopted by the House requiring House counsel Jim Kennedy to conduct a comprehensive review of the branch's sexual harassment policies and report back with recommendations in March 2018.

The action was spurred by a column in the Boston Globe in which a dozen women shared their anonymous stories of being sexual harassed at the State House by both current and former elected officials.

"I'm not sure exactly the timeframe of the issues when they may have occurred or whatnot, but even beyond that the fact that they did occur, as stated by some of the women, as I've stated before I was infuriated and appalled to think that could have been going on," DeLeo said.

Both DeLeo and Rosenberg, who have decades of combined experience working at the State House, said they have dealt with sexual harassment complaints during their tenures in the top legislative posts.

Rosenberg, who became Senate president in 2015, said he has dealt with two complaints in three years. "Both of those reports were handled according to the policy and both worked out to the satisfaction of the person who had been accosted," Rosenberg said.

DeLeo, who came to power in 2009, did not put a number on the complaints he has received, and would not say whether they were lodged against lawmakers, staff, or people from outside the building. "Any action or any complaint that has been brought to our attention, we've handled. We've handled as quickly as possible, obviously with the victim in mind and we got the result we were looking for," he said.

Rosenberg said that after he was elected president of the Senate in 2015 he brought in a "professional" to review the Senate's sexual harassment policy and make sure it was modern and up to date. "We have stuck to it and adhered to it," Rosenberg said, later adding, "Our policy is working quite well, but we try to be vigilant and if we see opportunities to improve we will do that."

Six women senators met with senior staff in the Senate president's office Monday morning to review the policy again, and identified areas for improvement, including intern training, Rosenberg said.

The House and Senate both maintain their own human resources departments. DeLeo said the sexual harassment policy is spelled out in the House employee handbook, and indicated that mandatory training for House employees would be something Kennedy would look into.

In addition to mandatory training, the co-chairs of the Women's Caucus Sexual Assault Working Group – Reps. Lori Ehrlich and Tricia Farley-Bouvier - called over the weekend for an immediate five-step action plan that also included an anonymous survey to gauge the level of harassment within the State House.

Asked about the survey, DeLeo said, "I'm not sure about an anonymous survey except to say, again, that's the major purpose in terms of what we intended to do as a House, to do a real thorough review of everything and anything."

Boston Area Rape Crisis Center Executive Director Gina Scaramella called the stories shared by women with Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham "deeply disturbing" and evidence of a "culture of tolerance for sexual assault" on Beacon Hill that must change.

“To create a safe workplace for all, legislative leaders must investigate these complaints and implement explicit workplace safety policies that clearly outline the steps for reporting abuse and the punishments for policy violations. Leaders must then follow through on these policies — without exception," Scaramella said.

One former State House aide who worked inside and outside the building for years in various capacities, including as executive director of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators, posted on Facebook last Friday that anyone surprised by the allegations raised in Abraham's column are "part of the problem."

Knowles, who shared her Facebook post publicly on Twitter, said she had a "goldmine" of stories from her more than 10 years working on Beacon Hill as an aide and lobbyist that would "ruin many careers and lives."

"Being propositioned by lawmakers in exchange for their voting a certain way, men who grope me at fundraisers, receiving unwanted sexts, suggestive comments on my looks...the list goes on and on," Knowles wrote, attributing the unwanted advances to elected officials, staff, lobbyists and campaign operatives.

Knowles consented to the publication of her statement.

Gov. Charlie Baker, who stood beside DeLeo and Rosenberg as they fielded questions, acknowledged that sexual harassment is problem whose reach extends into all corners of society.

"If you just look at how much hashtag there was on #metoo and how many stories have come out over the course of the past 10 days or so it's very clear that people in positions of power have on occasion abused that position of power in really disgraceful and disturbing ways," Baker said.

The governor sent a memo to executive branch employees on Monday reinforcing the administration's "zero tolerance policy," urging employees to retake the online sexual harassment training program offered through Human Resources, and detailing resources available to those who may have a complaint.

"We're certainly going to take a look at all of our policies and make sure that we believe they're consistent with any concerns that anybody has on this issue, because again, you can't have this ever. And especially can't have people feeling like they can't bring their issues forward," Baker said.